No matter how successful your company is, and no matter how your product quality and work system can stand the test, there will always be some unforeseen deficiencies that affect the company's user base. When this happens, you must show your company's service and quality commitment to the user through practical actions. This is a good opportunity. He can test your ability to handle the problem. The skill of handling the problem will greatly affect the user to the company. The degree of trust.
The following is a 20-step plan that will help you retain customers in the face of serious problems.
Before problems
1. Check the company's safety measures repeatedly.
Work to improve the company's defense capabilities, repeatedly review the company's security measures to avoid problems.
For example, consider how companies receive customer orders and how they order from suppliers during the procurement process. Has appropriate measures been taken - such as the signing of order certificates, layouts and folding methods, and confirmation of proofs, etc. - to ensure that the order reception process is accurate?
Next, check the security of the camera darkroom, production process, billing, shipping, entire system, and other key points. You must first know which security measures are taken, how they work, and whether they are sufficient to avoid problems.
2. Review the problems encountered in the near future.
Check complaint records - correspondence and customer's telephone records. If this information is not enough, talk to other service experts or sales staff to see if you can rebuild the problem record file for the past six months. Check the adjustment and increase or decrease of goods orders, determine their causes, and identify the key factors in these causes.
If you recently conducted a customer service survey and carefully studied the customer's response, identify the cause and mode of the problem again. Customer service surveys can reveal some completely unknown issues and often can use them to understand customer expectations.
3. Know where the problem will occur.
Communicate with production staff and other functional managers and ask them what they think is most likely to be the problem and what is the most likely cause of the problem. It is also possible to discuss drafting an overall quality plan. The nature of the printing business determines that there will always be varying degrees of trouble.
Combining this information with the results of prior investigations and research can determine the key points that need special attention in future work. Double check the security measures at these key points, and be extra cautious when meeting these key points at work.
4. Review feedback on complaints and adjustments.
Once the problem occurs, how big is your authority? Are there clear terms and guidelines on issues such as organizing invoices, handling additional postage or shipping costs? Can you determine when you should exchange ideas with your workshop manager or salesperson? Do you know what procedure you should follow?
Knowing the company's terms and guidelines and operating procedures prior to the problem can allow you to take quick and confident steps. If the company has not formally established these terms and procedures - that is, not specified in the customer service manual - it should start now.
5. Understand the focus of customer care.
If you can fully understand the customer's needs, you can continue to improve the solution to better meet customer needs.
6. Be vigilant on the issue. Customer prints are monitored throughout the production process. Try to anticipate possible problems and prevent them from happening.
For example, a product that was originally scheduled to be transported cannot be transported for some reason, and customers can be called up for negotiation. If the customer requests that the print must be delivered on time, the company has the right to choose a faster way to send the order to the customer on time.
When the problem occurs
7. Identify the origin of the incident.
Regardless of the company’s business, it is wise to clarify the truth and test it. Do not make any assumptions.
8. Try to solve the problem as much as possible.
Find out where the problem is, and then immediately decide what steps can be taken to correct the mistake. For example, in a company such as Communicolor (a direct-mail printing company whose business is very complex and any data may be wrong), if the computer program designed for a personalized printing business is wrong, it should stop production immediately. , modify the program, and then, if there are enough prints, resolve the issue immediately before the customer learns of the problem.
9. Know what to choose.
Improve the solution. As you understand the company's terms and procedures and operating procedures, and also know the customer's first considerations, you can determine an acceptable range. In this way, after a problem occurs, you can call the customer to provide an alternative, not just to report bad news. If possible, try to provide a variety of solutions for customers to choose.
10. Notify sales personnel.
Sales staff is a direct link between the company and its customers. It is essential that the salesperson of a business understands the situation; the salesperson should make an informed and definite response to the problem. Therefore, it is important to ensure that sales personnel have first-hand information on the problem and how you handle it. Remember, you are in a team.
11. Notify the customer.
Once you understand the truth and find an alternative solution, contact the customer. Do not hesitate to contact immediately. The earlier you contact the customer, the better it will be for both parties. Contacting customers as soon as possible can give customers more time to respond.
12. apologize.
After notifying the customer of the problem, he must apologize. Let the customer know that you are very sorry for the trouble.
13. Let customers lose their temper.
If customers are angry, don’t be personal. They are angry at the current situation and are not against you. Don't lose your cool. Try to use the skills to deal with complaints to make customers feel discomfort: Transfer topics, apologize, and change topics.
Sometimes it takes a long time to calm down a disgruntled customer. Do not be afraid to spend time, this is the necessary investment to maintain customer relationships.
14. Be honest and frank.
If there is a problem, the best solution is to be honest. Do not evade the problem, and do not try to cover up the problem with excuses and excuses. Must be frank, so that you can begin to solve the problem.
15. Do not denounce the blame for others.
Regardless of the cause of the problem, do not condemn others, whether it is personnel, suppliers, or manufacturers in other parts of the company. The customer does not care who is causing the problem. They do not want to listen to any reason and just want to know the result.
16. Work together to solve problems.
From the beginning, you should stand on the client to consider the problem and work together to find a reasonable solution. To understand, do not shirk responsibility for the problem.
This approach will allow you and your customers to establish a partnership that will help you overcome the difficulties you may encounter today and in the future.
17. Stay positive.
If you need to describe the problems that arise to your customers, focus on the positive aspects of the options provided, for example, you can ship some of your prints overnight. Talk about what you can do, not what you can't do.
18. Courage to acknowledge the problem.
To admit that it is their own problem, set about solving the problem. Even if these problems can be handed over to other staff members of the company, do not completely ignore them and still pay attention to the problems. Continue to keep in touch with customers and ensure that they are resolved in a way that is satisfactory to the customer. Don't expect others to help you focus on this issue and show your own business!
After the problem is solved
19. Continue to contact the customer.
Contact the customer again the next day or two days to make sure that things go exactly as planned. Tell the customer about the latest news you know. This not only determines that everything has been handled properly, but also lets customers know that you really care about them.
In addition, personally write a letter of apology to customers, thank them for their patience and understanding.
20. Take some necessary steps to ensure that the problem does not happen again.
Rethink the problem again. See if you can tell what went wrong and determine what to do to make the problem no longer happen.